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Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) is one of the most colorful figures of the late nineteenth-century Japanese art world. Bridging the gap between the shogun’s feudal society of the Edo period (1603–1868) and the Western-style institutions led by the emperor during the Meiji era (1868–1912), Kyōsai was trained in the traditional styles of Japanese painting and also sought new techniques by studying art from Europe. He provided illustrations for a translated edition of Aesop’s Fables for All (Tsūzoku isoppu monogatari) in the 1770s, which proved to be a rich source of inspiration for Kyōsai, who produced independent print series, books, and paintings based on this material for several years. This talk examines the profound impact that Kyōsai's work on Aesop would have on his career and on his legacy as an artist.
This talk is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek: New Research from the National Museum of Asian Art, where staff members present brief, personal perspectives and ongoing research, followed by discussion. This year, the series focuses on the theme of journeys—those that works of art depict and those they have undergone—in the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.
Kit Brooks is the Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. They hold a PhD in Japanese art history from Harvard University (2017), having studied under professors Yukio Lippit and Melissa McCormick. Specializing in prints and paintings of the Edo and Meiji periods, their primary research interests revolve around the reevaluation of “eccentric” artists of the eighteenth century as well as the relationship between illustrated books and paintings and special prints that emulate the visual qualities of other media, such as surimono and takuhanga.
Brooks has held positions at the British Museum, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Children’s Museum in Boston. They curated the exhibition Uncanny Japan: The Art of Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) at the Worcester Art Museum (2015) and cocurated Living Proof: Drawing in 19th-Century Japan at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (2017–18). Brooks is also a graduate of the CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice at the Center for Curatorial Leadership (2016).
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Event Series
Sneak Peek: New Research from the National Museum of Asian Art 2023
